Abstract of a Survey 



—OF— 



The Baltimore Public Schools 

1920-1921 

GEORGE D. STRAYER, Director 



PUBLISHED BY 

BOARD OF SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS 

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 



Abstract of a Survey 



— OF— 



The Baltimore Public Schools 
1920-1921 

GEORGE D. STRAYER, Director 



PUBLISHED BY 

BOARD OF SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS 

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND 






BOARD OF SCHOOL COMMISSIONERS 

ISAAC S. FIELD, President 
FREDERICK J. SINGLEY Dr. FRANK J. GOODNOW 

JOHN W. EDEL CHARLES J. F. STEINER 

ADDISON E. MULLIKIN WARREN S. SEIPP 

Mrs. J. W. PUTTS THEODORE E. STRAUS 

•SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION 

HENRY S. WEST 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

apr imt 



HHiMiiiummii 



' ! ■ ■ > • i ' i h . . -J 



TABLE OF CONTENTS 

Introduction — George D. Strayer, Director, Teachers College, Columbia 
University, New York City. 

Letter of Acknowledgment — Henry S. West, Superintendent of Schools, 
Baltimore, Maryland. 

Report of the Reviewing Committee — Abraham Flexner, General Education 
Board, New York City ; Elwood P. Cubberley, Dean of the School of 
Education, Leland Stanford University, California; J. W. Withers, 
formerly Superintendent of Schools, St. Louis, Mo., Dean of the School 
of Education, New York University, New York City; Frank W. Ballou, 
Superintendent of Schools, Washington, D. C. ; Alexander Inglis, Har- 
vard University. Cambridge, Mass.; Herbert S. Weet, Superintendent 
of Schools, Rochester, N. Y. 

Progress in the Baltimore School System During and Since the Completion 
of the Survey — George D. Strayer. 

The Public School Buildings and a S:hooi Building Program — 
George D. Strayer, N. L. Engelh ardt, and E. S. Evenden. 

The Administration of the Public Sciools — 
George D. Strayer and N. L. Engelhardt. 

The Teaching Staff — William C. Bagley. 

The Classification and Progress of School Children — Edward S. Evenden. 

The Achievements of Children in tin Classroom — 
M. R. Trabue and William A. McCall. 

Medical Inspection and Physical Education — Jesse Feiring Williams. 

The Secondary Schools — Thomas H. Briggs. 

The Curriculum of the Elementary Schools — Frederick G. Bonser. 

The Kindergarten — Patty S. Hill, Grace L. Brown, and Annie E. Moore. 

Home Economics in the Schools of Baltimore— Anna G. Cooley. 

Vocational Education — Arthur D. Dean. 



INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT 
By the Director of the Survey 

The complete report of the survey of the Baltimore Public 
Schools will be issued in three volumes. In this complete form 
of publication will be found all of the data which were used as a 
basis for arriving at conclusions, and for the making of recom- 
mendations with regard to the development of the school system. 

This abstract of the survey presents the facts in summary 
tables and statements, the findings of the survey based upon 
these facts, the recommendations which were made, together 
with a statement of the progress that has been made during 
the conduct of the survey and since its completion. The recom- 
mendations of the survey, as presented in this brief form, are 
identical with those which appear in the more complete publica- 
tion. The factual basis, upon which recommendations are made, 
is given in so far as was possible, even though detailed tables 
or descriptions are omitted. 

It is of primary importance that those who are interested in 
the development of Baltimore's public school system know that 
the survey staff worked in co-operation with the Superintendent 
of Schools and his staff, and with the Board of School Commis- 
sioners at every stage of the survey, and that definite progress 
was made by virtue of action taken by the Board of School 
Commissioners, and by the Superintendent of Schools during 
the progress of the inquiry. 

The only justification for a survey is to be found in the re- 
sults achieved. It is not often that a survey staff has had the 
satisfaction that has come to those who have worked in Bal- 
timore in seeing the development and improvement of the pub- 
lic schools taking place in so large a degree or in so many im- 
portant particulars during the progress of the inquiry as has 
been the case in Baltimore. 

GEORGE D. STRAYER. 



LETTER FROM SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS 

Department of Education, 

Baltimore, Md., May 31, 1921. 

Dr. George D. Straycr, 

Director, Baltimore School Survey. 

My Dear Doctor Strayer : — 

With the completed manuscript of your Survey of the Public School 
System of Baltimore in our hands, I desire to congratulate you upon hav- 
ing finished so extensive and so admirable a piece of work ahead of the 
date you set. I want also to thank you on behalf of the Board of School 
Commissioners, my colleagues on the executive staff, and our whole corps 
of school principals and teachers, for the personal interest, the skillful 
direction, and the detailed attention you have given to every phase of this 
large enterprise. 

When the Committee of the School Board called upon me last summer 
in reference to the superintendency of schools, I secured from them assur- 
ance that the Board would take steps to have a school survey inaugurated 
at the very beginning of the new school year, so as to get the completed 
survey report as early as possible in 1921. My attitude was to welcome 
heartily a thorough survey of the Baltimore school system as a first and a 
most important move on the part of the reorganized Board of School Com- 
missioners. My own experience with previous school surveys had taught 
me that a school survey properly conducted by a competent and impartial 
director, not connected with the school system being surveyed, could bring 
to that system a clearness of vision as to the existing situation, and a 
soundness of judgment as to recommendations for the future, that would 
be of tremendous and lasting value to the city under survey. 

As this survey has progressed, all of my hopeful anticipations regarding 
it have been fully realized. The complete report presents an array of 
facts about the Baltimore school system amazingly comprehensive for the 
comparatively short space of time consumed in doing the necessary field 
work, and in systematizing and analyzing the large volume of data col- 
lected; and the professional judgments expressed and th<i definite recom- 
mendations offered will furnish the basis for a long-range program of 
development. 

Very truly yours, 

HENRY S. WEST, 

Superintendent of Public Instruction. 



THE REPORT OF THE REVIEWING COMMITTEE 
BALTIMORE SCHOOL SURVEY 

The Reviewing Committee has visited forty schools includ- 
ing all types, elementary, junior and senior high, in order per- 
sonally to become acquainted with the physical plant and the 
general atmosphere of the schools. 

The Committee has studied the summaries of the several 
reports of this survey and the recommendations of the Survey 
Commission. This study has been supplemented by such confer- 
ences with school authorities as the limited time available has 
made possible. The Reviewing Committee has made recom- 
mendations which are being incorporated in the final report of 
the Survey Commission. 

The Reviewing Committee is impressed by the comprehen- 
sive and scientific study of actual conditions in the Baltimore 
schools made by the Survey Commission. The facts resulting 
from this study, and the form in which they have been organ- 
ized, serve as an invaluable basis for the future improvement of 
the Baltimore schools. 

It is the unanimous judgment of the Reviewing Committee 
that the findings of the Survey Commission as to actual condi- 
tions and needs for improvement are justified by the evidence 
presented. 

Specific recommendations concerning educational policies al- 
ways fall within one or the other of two categories : 

1. Those which are generally accepted by educational au- 
thorities and which are being increasingly exemplified in 
the better city school systems. 

2. Those which involve practices in which good school sys- 
tems vary and concerning which no general agreement 
has as yet been reached by educational authorities. 

Of the policies generally accepted by educational author- 
ities, the following are a few typical illustrations of those recom- 
mended by the Survey Commission and concurred in by the Re- 
viewing Committee : 



(a) The Superintendent of Schools should be the chief 
executive officer of the Board of School Commission- 
ers. He should have associated with him an adequate 
staff of competent administrative and supervisory of- 
ficers directly responsible to him. 

(b) The appointment by the Board of School Commission- 
ers of all members of the teaching- and supervisory staff 
should be made only upon the recommendation of the 
Superintendent of Schools. 

(c) A compulsory attendance service and a permanent con- 
tinuing census organization should be developed which 
will insure to every child the education which the law 
seeks to guarantee. 

(d) The physical facilities should be maintained at such 
a standard as to provide adequately for wholesome play 
and to insure the safety, the comfort, the health and 
proper physical development of school children. 

(e) In the expenditure of all funds appropriated for public 
education the Board of School Commissioners, sub- 
ject to proper audit, should have authority commen- 
surate with the responsibility placed upon it by law. 

(f) A comprehensive system of schools should include such 
major units of school organization as the following: 

Kindergartens as an essential part of all elementary 
schools. 

Elementary schools — grades 1 to 6 inclusive — in 
which proper provision is made to meet the com- 
mon needs of all normal children of elementary 
school age, with appropriate provisions for other 
children of varying abilities and needs. 

Junior and senior high schools — grades 7 to 12 in- 
clusive — with provision for educational opportuni- 
ties sufficiently broad in scope to meet the major 
differentiated needs of pupils of high school age 
and of the varying forms of service which the com- 
munity requires. These schools should be so or- 
ganized as to secure coordination of aim and pro- 
cedure. 



Summer schools affording appropriate opportunities 

during the summer vacation. 
Continuation schools for boys and girls of high 
school age who have withdrawn from the full- 
time day schools. 
Baltimore has established to some extent these commonly 
accepted types of school organization. The needs as yet inad- 
equately met are : 

The extension and development of kindergartens and junior 
high schools ; classes for exceptional children, such as the gifted, 
the backward, the tubercular, and the crippled; a closer articula- 
tion between junior and senior high schools ; and a more com- 
plete coordination of the senior high schools. Continuation 
schools should be established at the earliest opportunity. 

As types of policies concerning which good authorities differ 
and in which the practices of the best school systems vary may 
be mentioned the following illustrations from the report of the 
Survey Commission : 

(a) In the development of an adequate program of super- 
vision of instruction in the elementary school two poli- 
cies are common: (1) Supervision by building princi- 
pals ; (2) supervision by officers attached to the central 
administrative office and responsible for work through- 
out the system. 

(b) In the supervision of instruction in junior and senior 
high schools two policies are common: (1) Supervision 
by heads of departments. in individual schools; (2) spe- 
cial subject supervisors attached to the central admin- 
istrative office and responsible for supervision in all 
secondary schools. 

(c) Two methods are commonly employed in the determi- 
nation of the salary schedule: (1) The first method in- 
volves the classification of teachers according to the 
quality of their service in the schools ; (2) the second 
method provides for the classification of teachers ac- 
cording to their length of service and the qualifications 
indicated by the amount and character of their training. 

(d) Two policies are common in providing for dental ser- 
vice : (1) The establishment of clinics in each school 
or section of the city ; (2) the establishment of a single 
centralized clinic serving the entire school system. 

8 



This distinction between generally accepted policies and the 
policies as yet not determined and attested by practice is neces- 
sarily involved in the recommendations of the Survey Commis- 
sion. In the judgment of the Reviewing Committee, where pol- 
icies are involved belonging to the category of accepted good 
practice, the Survey Commission has in each case made recom- 
mendations, the validity of which is recognized. It is also their 
judgment that the Survey Commission has properly recognized 
those cases where specific recommendations cannot be made with 
assurance and has properly pointed out the relative advantages 
and disadvantages of differing policies in the light of local con- 
ditions. 

The Committee takes pleasure in noting that the Board of 
School Commissioners, the Superintendent of Schools and his 
assistant superintendents, the school principals, and teachers 
have heartily cooperated with the Director and his staff in their 
conduct of the survey, and that the Board of School Commis- 
sioners has already adopted several important recommendations 
that have been made. 

It is the unanimous opinion of the Reviewing Committee 
that the final value to the city of Baltimore of this survey will 
depend chiefly upon the provisions which are made by the munic- 
ipal and school authorities for the successful and progressive 
carrying out of the very comprehensive educational program 
which the survey has so carefully outlined. 

ABRAHAM FLEXNER, 
ELWOOD P. CUBBERLEY, 
FRANK W. BALLOU, 
ALEXANDER INGLIS, 
HERBERT S. WEET, 
JOHN \Y. WITHERS. 



PROGRESS IN THE BALTIMORE SCHOOL SYSTEM DUR- 
ING AND SINCE THE COMPLETION OF THE SURVEY 

I. Administration — The Superintendent of Schools has, by 
action of the present Board of School Commissioners, become 
the chief executive officer of the school system. All appoint- 
ments to the teaching and supervisory staff are made upon his 
nomination. The establishment of this practice, as a matter of 
law, awaits the action of the Legislature. 

Assistant Superintendents in charge of "junior and senior 
high schools, of the intermediate grades, and of the primary 
grades, have been appointed. A Director of Americanization has 
been secured. 

A Committee of the Board of School Commissioners has in 
hand the question of reorganization of the business offices of the 
Board. It is confidently expected that provision will be made 
in the next annual budget for a competent person to head the 
division of business administration of the school system. 

The organization of the school system, upon a plan of a six- 
year elementary school, three-year junior high school, and 
three-year senior high school, has been adopted. A parental 
school for colored boys has been established. Steps have been 
taken to secure a director for an enlarged Bureau of Research 
and Statistics. 

II. School Buildings and School Building Program — Seven 
million dollars have been made available for school buildings, one 
million for emergency repairs, and six millions for new buildings. 
Emergency repairs are already completed. New buildings are 
being planned and sites providing ample playground space have 
been and are being secured. The building program is being de- 
veloped in accordance with the recommendations of the survey. 
It is suggested that the Legislature will be asked to authorize 
additional loans for school buildings at its next session. 

III. Teaching Staff — Substantial increases in salaries were 
granted to all teachers for the current year. 

10 



IV. Classification and Progress of Children — The Assistant 
Superintendents are making a careful study of the classifica- 
tion and progress of children throughout the school system. 
Children are being classified on the basis of ability to a greater 
extent than heretofore. 

V. Medical Inspection and Physical Education — A Director 
of Physical Education has been appointed. An advisory director, 
with large experience in the work of physical education and rec- 
reation, has been appointed. A larger degree of responsibility 
for health service has been undertaken by the director and his 
staff in junior and senior high schools. 

VI. Secondary Schools — A complete articulation between 
junior and senior high schools has been effected. The repeat- 
ing in senior high schools of courses taken in junior high schools 
no longer prevails. Committees of principals, super\-isors, and 
teachers have prepared tentative courses of study for junior high 
schools. More opportunity is being afforded in the junior high 
school for work in industrial arts and home economics. The 
junior high schools have been enlarged by removing from the 
buildings, in which they are housed, elementary school classes. 
Further development of the secondary schools awaits the com- 
pletion of the building program. 

VII. The Elementary School Curriculum — Tentative 
courses of study have been prepared by Committees and are be- 
ing tried out in the elementary schools. Committees will con- 
tinue to work on the development of these courses of study. 

VIII. Kindergartens — Twenty additional kindergartens 
have been opened. The program of work is being developed in 
accordance with the recommendations of the survey. 

IX. Home Economics — A Supervisor of Home Economics 
has been appointed. Provision has been made for the utilization 
of equipment formerly lying idle. As noted above, a larger of- 
fering in this field has been provided in the junior high schools. 
Courses of study have been revised in accordance with the 
recommendations of the survey. 

X. Vocational Education — A plan of organization for voca- 
tional education, providing for a director of this department, to- 
gether with three heads of the divisions of industrial education, 
commercial education, and home economics, has been adopted. 

11 



Two of the heads of divisions are already at work. Steps have 
been taken toward securing the third division head. 

XI. Further Progress — Further progress in the develop- 
ment of the school system is dependent upon legislative action 
which may be secured, and upon the money provided in the next 
annual budget. 



12 



ADMINISTRATION OF SCHOOLS 

The control of the public school system in Baltimore is in 
the last analysis vested in a Board of Estimates, composed of 
the Mayor, City Solicitor, Comptroller, President of the Second 
Branch of the City Council, and President of the Board of Pub- 
lic Improvements, and in the City Council. The Charter pro- 
vides that the head of the Department of Education shall con- 
sist of a Board of School Commissioners. It is equally true that 
by Charter provision the Board of School Commissioners must 
look to the Board of Estimates and to the City Council not only 
for the moneys which are to be used for school purposes, but 
that they must submit a budget in great detail from which they 
may not depart in the administration of the schools during the 
year for which the money is granted. 

The Board of School Commissioners does not have control 
of the erection of new buildings, nor of the repair of the build- 
ings now in use. The City Inspector of Buildings is the respon- 
sible authority even though it is provided that "the instructions 
of the Board of School Commissioners shall be regarded by the 
Inspector of Buildings in the preparation of his plans, and no 
plans shall be finally adopted without the concurrence of said 
Board." The intent of the charter as interpreted by the City 
Solicitors makes it very clear that the Board of School Commis- 
sioners is a distinctly subordinate department in the city gov- 
ernment. 

In actual practice the Board of School Commissioners is re- 
quired to appear before the Board of Estimates in order to make 
any change in the salary paid to an individual whose salary has 
been fixed by the ordinance of estimate even though the Board 
does not seek to spend any more money than that provided in 
the budget for the general purpose or function involved. Even 
where money has been appropriated for a particular purpose the 
Board of Estimates feels that it has the authority to pass upon 
the expenditure of the money until the sum involved shall have 
been completely exhausted. 

13 



The members of the Survey Commission believe that the 
people of Baltimore look to the Board of School Commissioners 
for the development of the public school system. They are con- 
vinced that the provisions of the charter as interpreted by City 
Solicitors, and as operative at the present time, interfere with 
the efficiency of the Board of School Commissioners in fulfilling 
their function. It is recommended that the Board of School Com- 
missioners be given a larger degree of control over the tnouej 
made available, for the public schools of the city. 

In many American cities the board of education levies taxes, 
and enjoys complete control of all moneys made available for the 
support of the public schools. The boards of education in St. 
Louis, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Bos- 
ton, Chicago, and many other cities have, within certain limits de- 
termined by law, the right to levy taxes or to submit budgets 
which are mandatory to the tax levying authority, and in all 
cases have complete control of the funds which are provided 
in support of the public school system. 

It is recommended that in Baltimore such amendments to 
the charter be made as will make it possible for the Board of 
School Commissioners to submit a budget classified under the 
following heads only: (1) Administration and General Control; 
(2) Instruction; (3) Text-books and Supplies; (4) Maintenance 
of the Plant ; (5) Operation of the Plant ; (6) Auxiliary Agencies ; 
(7) Capital Outlay. It is proposed that they present all the data 
necessary to support their estimates of the cost of maintaining 
the public school system. After the money has been allowed 
by the Board of Estimates and voted by the City Council, it is 
proposed that within the classifications mentioned above the 
Board of School Commissioners be given complete control of the 
funds so voted. 

The changes in the charter advocated above and intended 
to provide for a larger degree of control by the Board of School 
Commissioners are in accord) with the prevailing practice, in 
American cities and cannot be thought of as giving unusual power 
to the school authorities. If the recommendation were for com- 
plete fiscal independence of the Board of School Commissioners, 
it would be in complete accord with the practice of approxi- 
mately half of our American cities, and would receive the cordial 

14 



support of the leading authorities on educational administration. 

After the Mayor has appointed a Board of School Commis- 
sioners "from among those he deems most capable of promoting 
the interests of public education by reason of their intelligence, 
character, education, or business habits," (Sec. 99 City Charter, 
1898) surely he and his colleagues of the Board of Estimates 
should be willing to give them such authority as is provided in 
the recommendation for the expenditure of the funds made avail- 
able. 

In the majority of American cities the Board of Education 
has complete responsibility over the selection of sites, erection 
of buildings, repairs to buildings, the purchasing of supplies and 
equipment, and other business affairs. From such inquiry as has 
been made in Baltimore there appears to be no apparent gain in 
placing the purchasing of supplies under the control of the Board 
of Awards and the City Purchasing Agent. The care of the school 
plant and the erection of new buildings in a city the size of Bal- 
timore is a job big enough in itself to justify the employing of 
a competent person for this service. If the type of business or- 
ganization recommended in the survey is to be developed under 
the general supervision of an executive officer of the Board of 
School Commissioners, there can be little doubt but that a higher 
degree of efficiency will be brought about. The present situation 
makes for delay and dissatisfaction, for an increase in costs 
through duplicating authorities involving the employment of ad- 
ditional personnel, and fails to give to the Board of School 
Commissioners authority commensurate with their responsi- 
bility. 

The Board of School Commissioners should appoint an 
executive directly responsible to the Superintendent of Schools 
whose duty it shall be to assume general supervisory responsi- 
bility for the installation of an adequate system of cost account- 
ing, the continued study of the need for repairs to buildings and 
equipment, the careful and detailed study of building needs, and 
the most advantageous location for new buildings as determined 
by increases and shifts in population, and the standardization of 
supplies and equipment to the end that the business administra- 
tion of the schools be developed in such manner as to make for a 
maximum of economy and efficiency. 



15 



The desirability of giving to the Board of School Commis- 
sioners rather than to the Board of Health the responsibility for 
the physical examination and health service provided for school 
children is generally recognized throughout the United States. 
Over three-fourths of the cities supporting medical inspection 
and health service have given this responsibility to the Board of 
Education. Among the cities in which the work is organized un- 
der this form of control are St. Louis, Cleveland, Atlanta, Kan- 
sas City, Dayton, Minneapolis, Boston, Jersey City, Milwaukee, 
Seattle, Los Angeles, Newark, New Orleans, and Denver. It is 
urgently recommended that the Board of School Commissioners 
be given this responsibility in the city of Baltimore. 

In advocating that the Board of School Commissioners be 
given larger responsibility for the conduct of the school system 
it is recognized that the success of their administration depends 
upon the organization and personnel of the administrative staff 
employed by them. It is clear that if efficient administration of 
schools is to be secured, the Board of School Commissioners 
must recognize the Superintendent of Schools as their chief ad- 
ministrative officer. All other executives must be responsible 
to him, and should be elected by the Board of School Commis- 
sioners upon his nomination. 

In an opinion of the City Solicitor, dated February 24, 1921, 
it appears that the Superintendent of Schools does not now 
legally enjoy the right of nominating all members of the ad- 
ministrative, supervisory, and teaching staff. 

In Baltimore at the present time, the Superintendent of 
Schools is recognized as the chief executive officer of the Board 
of School Commissioners. There would be a distinct advantage 
in legalizing this relationship in order to guarantee the continu- 
ance of the present policy. There are at this time four assistant 
superintendents. It will be necessary to add to this number. 
If Baltimore is to develop an adequate system of vocational edu- 
cation, a director or assistant superintendent directly responsible 
to the Superintendent of Schools must be provided. If the health 
service and physical education were organized under a single 
head, as is the case in the more progressive American cities, a 



16 



director or assistant superintendent would need to be provided 
for this field. 

The development of an adequate system of supervision for 
the schools of Baltimore involves the further question of super- 
vision of the colored schools. The colored people of Baltimore 
have a separate community life in their homes, churches, and 
schools. A supervisor of colored schools, directly responsible 
to the Superintendent of Schools, -would have a type of contact 
with this group in the community that is not possible for any 
one of another race. If a supervisor thoroughly acquainted with 
the needs of this group and well trained in the field of school 
supervision were selected, it is believed that much improvement 
in the organization and work of the colored schools might be 
effected. 

THE BUREAU OF RESEARCH AND STATISTICS 

For a number of years Baltimore has gathered statistics 
covering enrollment, attendance, withdrawal from school, pro- 
motions, failures, and other elements involved in the classifica- 
tion and progress of school children. These data have been care- 
fully recorded by the school principals for the Bureau of Sta- 
tistics and have been assembled with great care and consider- 
able expense in the annual reports of the Board of School Com- 
missioners. 

Not only should the Bureau of Research and Statstics be re- 
sponsible for the collection and interpretation of .data in the field 
of classification and progress of children, but a similar service 
should be rendered by this bureau to all the other departments 
of the city school system. This bureau should be the clearing 
house for all investigations that are being made in the school sys- 
tem. In fact, it should operate as the bureau for continuing the 
survey work which has been begun by this commission, so that 
there may be developed a continuous survey of the school system 
of the city. 

Most laborious methods are at present employed in the of- 
fice compilation of results. Computing and tabulating machines 
and devices should be provided this department so that its work 
may be done most expeditiously. The money spent in proper 
office equipment and adequate clerical assistance in this depart- 
ment can be considered as one of the best investments which it 

17 



is within the power of the Board of School Commissioners to 
make. In the last analysis this department provides the meas- 
ures of success of all other departments and hence its impor- 
tance cannot be over-estimated. The fact that such a depart- 
ment is assuming a place of increasing importance in the large 
majority of progressive school systems in the United States is 
one reaon why Baltimore should provide for its development so 
as to secure the highest efficiency. 



THE SCHOOL BUILDING SURVEY AND THE SCHOOL 
BUILDING PROGRAM 

The success or failure of the educational program in any 
public school system depends in large measure upon the type 
and adequacy of the school housing provisions. In making the 
school building survey, the 150 public school buildings of Balti- 
more were scored by means of a scorecard which has been 
utilized in scoring school buildings in many cities in the United 
States. A score of 900 to 1000 points indicates a highly satis- 
factory degree of construction and equipment. Where school 
buildings have scored 400 points or less, experience has dictated 
to the Survey Commission that abandonment of such buildings 
for school purposes is the only justifiable course. Such buildings 
lack almost entirely the provisions needed for the health, safety, 
and education of the children. 

Only 67 of the 140 elementary school buildings in Baltimore 
were scored above 400 points. Fifty-two per cent, of the ele- 
mentary school buildings have been scored by the Survey Com- 
mission as below 400 points on this 1000 point scorecard. Some 
of the reasons for the low scores on this very large number of 
buildings are : the lack of playgrounds ; the non-fireproof nature 
of many buildings ; the entire absence of fire-escapes on certain 
buildings and the wooden fire-escapes on other buildings ; heat- 
ing plants and fuel bins unprotected from the rest of the school 
building; glass partitions between classrooms and corridors, 
offering no protection against fire ; inadequate provisions for 
natural and artificial lighting; the very insanitary outhouses of 
many schools and the poorly maintained, inadequately equipped 
and miserably lighted basement toilets of other schools ; and the 

18 



lack of such rooms as auditoriums, gymnasiums, manual train- 
ing rooms, domestic science rooms, and other special activity 
rooms which are needed for the development of a modern school 
program. 

In Baltimore 57 per cent, of the children of school enrollment 
have playground space provided for them of 15 square feet or less ; 
85 per cent, of Baltimore school children have playground space 
provided for them of 30 square feet or less. The standard of 100 
square feet of play space per child shows to what degree Balti- 
more has failed to provide play space. Not only is play space 
lacking to a great degree in the Baltimore schools, but almost no 
playground apparatus has been installed on the playgrounds. 

In addition to the large number of inadequate, poorly 
planned, and poorly equipped school buildings, 4500 children are 
being housed in makeshift annexes, such as stores, churches, and 
the like; 4000 in portables, which, in some instances, cover most 
of the former playgrounds, and 2500 in classrooms constructed in 
corridors, cloak-rooms, teachers' rooms and auditoriums, where 
the handicaps of lighting, seating and other equipment seriously 
affect their school work. Five thousand school children on half 
time in 32 schools and 2800 school children on short time in 18 
schools, together with the children housed in temporary struc- 
tures, make a total of 13,000 children for whom better provi- 
sions must be made, in addition to those children who are housed 
in school buildings which have been scored below 400 points. 

Heating and Ventilating 

Fifty-two school buildings are heated with hot air furnaces. 
Thirty school buildings in Baltimore are still being heated with 
stoves in the classrooms. These undesirable and inadequate 
systems of heating school buildings have long been replaced in 
progressive cities by a system of heating and ventilation which 
safeguards the health and comfort of the children. 

Although in a large degree the school buildings of Baltimore 
are non-fireproof, fire-escapes are lacking on 103 buildings, while 
wooden fire-escapes have been installed on 38 buildings. The 
standard enclosed stair-well has only been made a part of two 
school buildings and the steel fire escape has only been pro- 
vided on 5 of the 150 school buildings. An extensive program 
for the removal of fire hazards adopted by the Board of School 

19 



Commissioners on the recommendation of the School Survey 
Commission is already under way. 

Ninety-five per cent, of the Baltimore schools were rated 
less than 50 per cent, efficient with respect to provisions for 
drinking and washing. In 16 of the Baltimore schools there is 
one drinking fountain for every 150 to 200 pupils. In 23 of the 
schools there is one drinking fountain for every 200 to 400 chil- 
dren. Eleven schools have no drinking fountain provisions. In 
these groups children are practically being denied the oppor- 
tunity for securing a drink of water. In the planning of Balti- 
more schools, little consideration was given the need for wash 
bowls, so that children might be taught cleanliness. Twenty- 
eight school buildings have no wash bowl equipment whatsoever, 
while in 50 schools, the provision is one wash bowl for every 200 
to 1200 children. Thousands of children are denied the privilege 
of keeping their hands clean. 

The toilet systems of 76 per cent, of the Baltimore schools 
are rated at less than 50 per cent, adequate. Insanitary out- 
houses, dry latrines and water closets with the most primitive 
equipment that are now a part of the equipment of the Baltimore 
schools are included in the program for replacements which 
has been sanctioned by the Board of School Commissioners on 
the recommendation of the Survey Commission. 

Fifty-seven per cent, of the elementary classrooms for white 
children are below the standard area per child of pupil capacity 
and in 65 per cent, of the classrooms for white children the stan- 
dard of 200 cubic feet of air space per child is not met. The con- 
dition in the elementary schools for colored children is even 
worse. 

The standards for natural illumination require that the glass 
area of classrooms shall be one-fourth to one-fifth of the floor 
area ; that no direct glare should be thrown on desks ; and that no 
children should be compelled to look into the outside light. Ap- 
proximately 75 per cent, of the elementary classrooms are below 
the standard ratio of window area to floor area. In approxi- 
mately 40 per cent, of the elementary classrooms the. window 
placement is below standard. In spite of the defects in natural 
lighting, 924 classrooms in Baltimore have no artificial light con- 
nections. In 367 classrooms the flickering, open-flame gas jet 
provides the artificial light, and in 735 classrooms electric light. - 

20 



ing provisions have been made, which, however, in most cases, 
are far below the standard. Photometric measurements made 
at random show many cases where only one foot candle of light 
was available for children at their desks, instead of the requisite 
six foot candles. 

Approximately 57 per cent, of all the blackboards in the Bal- 
timore classrooms are too high to meet the needs of the children, 
and only four pupils out of every hundred sit in seats that may 
be adjusted to their heights. Half of the classrooms for ele- 
mentary children are equipped with 47 seats or more. There 
are 66 elementary classrooms in Baltimore which are provided 
with 60 seats or more. Very few school teachers can be ex- 
pcted to do their best work with more than 40 children in the 
class. 

Adequate lunch-rooms, auditoriums, play-rooms, libraries, 
nurses' rooms, principal's offices, teachers' rooms, and other spe- 
cial service rooms are lacking to an amazing degree throughout 
the Baltimore school svstem. 



The School Building Program 

In order to develop a school plant which will always meet 
the educational needs of the city's children, a continuous school 
building program study must be maintained. Buildings should 
be located only after a careful analysis of population growth and 
population needs. The duplication of small plants, as has pre- 
vailed in the past, should not be countenanced. School sites 
should be chosen with full regard to future availability and in 
advance of building needs, so that they may be secured at the 
lowest possible costs. The most desirable classification of children 
requires that school buildings of 24 classrooms and more be 
planned, and that the special room facilities demanded by the 
modern courses of study be provided. The following sources 
of data were utilized by the survey Commission for the vo- 
luminous and detailed population study report submitted : 

1. The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company's census of popu- 

lation growth. 

2. The police census of voters for the period 1910-20, for the purpose of 

discovering residential tendencies. 

21 



3. The school enrollment figures distributed by school districts for the 

past ten years, in order to discover the child growth by sections of 
the city. 

4. The police census of school children for the purpose of determining 

the ratio between the attendance at public schools and the attend- 
ance at non-public schools. 

5. The Federal Census Enumeration District data, showing the population 

growth over the past two decades. 

It is estimated that approximately 25,000 white children will 
be added to the public school enrollment during the decade 1920- 
1930, and that approximately 2300 colored children will be added 
during this same period. The buildings for these children should 
be ready when they begin to attend school. 

The type of educational organization which has been sanc- 
tioned by the Board of Education is the 6-3-3 plan, i. e., six years 
in the elementary school, three years of junior high school, and 
three years of senior high school. The development of this plan 
cannot proceed advantageously where there are too many small 
buildings housing less than 500 or 600 children. 

The relationship between the three groups of the 6-3-3 plan 
has been considered over a period of years, in order to ascer- 
tain what percentage of the expected increase in enrollment 
will fall in the lower six grades or in grades 7 to 9, or in grades 
10 to 12. The ratio between these three groups for the past 
three years has averaged 79.7 per cent, of total school population 
in grades kindergarten to 6, 15.7 per cent, in grades 7 to 9, and 
4.6 per cent, in grades 10 to 12. On the basis of these figures, 
estimates for increased enrollment in the elementary school have 
been made for each of the wards. From these estimates, the 
new elementary school building program has been proposed. 
This problem has been similarly treated for both white and col- 
ored children. 

In determining the location of new junior high schools, the 
city has been divided geographically into six sections and the 
junior high school population for these six sections estimated 
for the present period. The growth of the population for the 
next decade has also been estimated for these sections. Dot map 
distributions have been made of the present residences of all 
students attending all of the high schools in the city. These 
maps, together with the estimated increase in high school popu- 

22 



lation of various wards, have formed the basis for the recom- 
mendation covering the location of new high schools. 

Summary 

The recommendations include the replacement of 68 school 
buildings within the next 15-year period, 50 of which are to be 
abandoned and replaced as soon as possible. The program for 
replacement follows : 

PROGRAM FOR THE REPLACEMENT OF INADEQUATE SCHOOL 

FACILITIES FOR WHICH SUBSTITUTION SHOULD BE MADE 

AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE IN THE BUILDING PROGRAM 

Enrollment Figures of February, 1921 

Number of white children for whom replacement should be 

made within the 1914 city limits 14,623 

Number of white children for whom replacement should be 

made within the 1920 annex 3,484 

Total number of white children for whom replacement should 

be made as early as possible 18,107 

Number of colored children for whom replacement should be 

made; within the 1914 city limits 4,872 

Number of colored children for whom replacement should be 

made within the 1920 annex 262 

Total number of colored children for whom replacement should 

be made as early as possible 5,134 

Grand Total '. 23,241 

The present inadequate buildings, together with their sites, 
may be sold in a number of instances. In some cases the sites 
will be retained and extended, and adequate modern buildings be 
built upon them. 

The cost for school buildings on unit bases have been slowly 
returning to the 1914 figures. The Survey Commission esti- 
mates that a cost figure of approximately $400 per child may 
with fairness be used as a basis. The total cost program for 
the decade 1920-1930 is therefore as follows : 

THE COST OF THE TOTAL SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM 
FOR THE DECADE 1920-1930 

The cost of immediate replacement program, 23,241 children, 

at $400 $ 9,296,400 

23 



The cost of the five-year limit replacement program, 6,433 chil- 
dren, at $400 2,573,200 

Increase in population for the decade 1920-1930, 28,000 children, 

at $400 11,200,000 

Total cost $23,069,600 



THE TEACHERS OF BALTIMORE 

Baltimore employs 2586 teachers in its public schools. The 
number has been increased by 646 during the six-year period, 
,1915-1921 — an average annual increase of more than 100. 

The withdrawals from the service just prior to the war aver- 
aged about seventy each year. In 1917-18, however, the with- 
drawals were nearly doubled, and in the following year they 
were three times the pre-war average. Last year 183 teachers 
from the regular staff left the service, or more than twice the 
pre-war average. 

By computing the growth of the system for each year as 
measured by the number of additional teachers required and by 
adding the number of teachers withdrawing from the service, 
the number of recruits that have been needed each year is de- 
termined. This should be compared with the number of train- 
ing- school graduates. 



1915-16 


Increase in 
Number 
Teachers 
Emp'oyed 

51 

18 

10 
315 
262 


Death?: and 
Resignations* 

71 

74 
132 
212 
183 


Rceruiti 
Needed 

122 

92 

142 

527 
314 


Number of 
Training 

School 
Graduates 


1916-17 


106 


1917-18 


169 


1918-19 


140 


Tune, 1919-Jan., 1921.... 


80 



* Not including substitutes. 

The facts regarding the shortage of teachers deserve the 
most serious consideration. The Baltimore City Training School, 
which for nearly twenty years has been the chief source of sup- 
ply for the white elementary schools, graduated 136 students in 
1917; in 1920 it graduated 29. The Colored Training School, 
which graduated 33 students in 1917, graduated 25 in 1920. Thus, 
during the years when the school system has been expanding 
the most rapidly and when withdrawals from the service have 

24 



been most numerous, the supply of trained teachers has steadily 
dwindled. 

Nor do these facts tell the whole story. The City Training 
School apparently enrolled at one time a fair proportion of the 
abler graduates of the Eastern and Western High Schools. Be- 
ginning as far back as 1915, the proportion of these abler stu- 
dents entering the Training School began to diminish, and the 
proportion drawn from the lower scholarship ranks began to in- 
crease. There is excellent material in every class of the Train- 
ing School. However, the general quality of the entering stu- 
dents has fallen off during the past six years. Relatively few 
young women of marked ability are at the present time look- 
ing forward to the type of teaching service for which the City 
Training School prepares. 



The Salary Question 

The unattractiveness of public school teaching is to be at- 
tributed in large part to the small financial rewards that it offers 
as compared with other occupations. The war and its after- 
math of high prices are only the immediate cause of the condi- 
tion that the schools are facing today. For a decade or more be- 
fore the war, it was clearly apparent that the rewards of teach- 
ing were not increasing in proportion to the rewards afforded 
in other callings. Openings for women in industry, in commerce, 
and in professions other than teaching were rapidly multiplied ; 
and thousands of high school graduates, who in former years 
would have entered the teaching service, were attracted into 
these new fields. The war consequently only intensified a situa- 
tion that was already becoming a serious menace to the wel- 
fare and progress of public education. 

The unsatisfactory financial status of the teacher has found 
expression not only in resignations from the teaching service and 
in the discouragement of otherwise available candidates, but also 
in the spirit of unrest on the part of the teachers who, in spite 
of the meager rewards, have remained in the service either be- 
cause they have conscientiously believed that they should not 
desert it in a crisis, or because they have reached an age when a 
change of occupation is not something to be considered lightly. 

It is clear that if teaching is to attract the number and qual- 

25 



ity of recruits that it needs, it must offer larger financial induce- 
ments. The significant facts affecting salaries are as follows : 

1. Teachers' salaries should be based primarily on the needs of those 
who remain permanently in the service rather than on the needs of the 
younger group, many of whom will teach but a short time. 

2. Mature and permanent teachers form the backbone of the public 
school service in all of our city school systems, including Baltimore. 

3. A teacher's salary schedule should recognize the fact that mature 
and permanent teachers, whether man or woman, whether married or 
single, frequently, if not generally, have persons beside themselves to 
support. 

4. A salary schedule must provide for all teachers not only a living 
wage (together with a margin for the support of dependents), but also a 
saving wage. 

5. Salaries must be sufficient to enable teachers to live without having 
to undertake outside work, especially during the school year. 

The savings of Baltimore teachers under the present sched- 
ule of salaries, as nearly as we can determine from the replies 
to inquiries, are not large. Out of 637 white elementary teach- 
ers reporting, 213 or 33.3 per cent, carry no insurance. Of the 
424 who report that they pay insurance premiums, one-half ex- 
pend $25 or less for this purpose each year. 

Of 1132 white elementary teachers replying to the question 
on pensions, 863, or 76.2 per cent., report savings in the form of 
contributions to the pension fund. The median amount thus 
contributed is $15 annually. 

As to savings other than insurance and pension payments, 
the showing is still more depressing. The median amount 
saved by 321 white elementary teachers reporting on this ques- 
tion is $50. For extraordinary expenses, due to illness or acci- 
dent, the accumulations of even eight or ten years at this rate 
would be a very narrow margin. The group is obviously small, 
but there is no reason to believe that it is not typical of the 
white elementary teachers as a whole. 

From the preceding discussion it is clear that, if the teaching 
personnel is to be kept up to its pre-war standards, financial re- 
wards must be provided in excess even of the recent increases. 

Elements of Strength in the Present Teaching Personnel 

1. The teachers of Baltimore come predominantly from na- 
tive American stock. 

26 



2. The teachers of Baltimore constitute an unusually stable 
and permanent group. 

3. A substantial majority of the teachers of Baltimore art 
serious professional workers. 

This fact is substantiated both by the replies to a question- 
naire and by the testimony of those who have talked with the 
teachers and watched them at their work. 

If the attributes of the teaching personnel above discussed 
constitute positive assets to the system, it follows that plans for 
future development should aim to capitalize and conserve these 
advantages. This means that teachers should continue to be 
drawn from the economic and social groups that have heretofore 
supplied them ; but it should also mean that the service should 
aim to select from the highest levels of ability that these groups 
represent. 

It goes without saying that the basis of an effective morale 
which the service now possesses in the whole-hearted devotion 
of the majority of the teachers should be sedulously safeguarded 
and strengthened. 



The Classifications and Progress of School Children 

During the last twenty years the school enrollment in Bal- 
timore has decreased from 12.7 per cent, of the total population 
to 11.5 per cent, in 1920. There is a very heavy elimination of 
over-age and retarded pupils after the thirteenth year and par- 
ticularly during the fourteenth year. 

In the group which is three or more years over age there 
were in 1920, 1342 white children (2 per cent, of net roll) and 1062 
colored children (9.3 per cent, of net roll) who were in the regu- 
lar classrooms and should be cared for in special and ungraded 
rooms. This number in addition to the number already cared 
for in ungraded rooms would make about 3000 children to be 
taught in ungraded rooms in Baltimore. St. Louis with a larger 
enrollment has only one-fourth as many children in this group in 
the regular grades. In Baltimore there has been practically no 
change since 1913. There has been small change in the accel- 
erated group, but an increase of 7 per cent, in the normal group 
a similar decrease in the retarded group for both white and col- 
ored children during the period 1914-1920. 



The group "3 or more years retarded" is largest in the 
fourth and fifth grades for white children and in the third and 
fourth grades for colored children. Boys practically always have 
a larger per cent, retarded than girls. 

Twenty per cent, of the total enrollment of Baltimore fails 
of promotion. The failures by subjects are as follows: 

Arithmetic — 10 to 12 per cent, of children fail — affects all 
grades. Reading — Failures decrease from 17 per cent, in first 
grade to 1 per cent, in eighth. Language and Grammar — 15 to 
17 per cent, in the fifth to seventh grades. History and Geog- 
raphy — about 5 to 6 per cent, in the sixth and seventh grades. 

The points of greatest difficulty for colored children occur 
earlier than for white children by about one grade and the per- 
centages of failures are greater by about 50 per cent. 

Total number cared for in special classes in 1920 was 697 
white children and 99 colored children. The group "three or 
more years over age" in regular classroom is 1342 white chil- 
dren and 1062 colored children. On the basis of 15 pupils to a 
class Baltimore should have 200 ungraded rooms. Three per 
cent, of the total enrollment or 2690 pupils, for physical reasons, 
could profit by instruction in special rooms, such as "open air," 
"cardiac," "crippled," and the like. 

Recommendations 

1. A permanent continuing census system should be in- 
stalled and maintained by the attendance department. 

2. Attendance department should be so maintained in staff 
and clerical help as to enable it to 

a. Secure prompt enrollment in the fall. 

b. Secure regular attendance. 

c. Maintain attendance to the close of the term. 

d. Grant and follow up in co-ordination with the Department of Labor 

and Statistics all working certificates for children under sixteen. 

e. Investigate all cases within three days of being reported. 

3. Semi-annual advancement should become definite semi- 
annual promotions for all schools. This will increase the flexi- 
bility and adaptibility of the school and help to 

a. Increase the per cent of under age and accelerated pupils 

b. Increase the per cent of normal age and normal progress pupils. 

c. Decrease the large number of over age and retarded pupils. 

d. Decrease the waste involved in repeating an entire year's work in- 

stead of half a year, when a pupil fails of promotion. 

28 



4. Age-grade and age-progress data should be gathered in 
such a manner that it will be possible to show the interrela- 
tions between the two sets of data. 

5. As fast as possible the children in grades having wide 
ranges of over-age and retarded pupils should be reclassified on 
the basis of standardized tests and intelligence measures. 

6. All children three or more years over age or who have 
taken three or more years more than normal time to reach their 
grades, should be cared for in ungraded or special rooms : 

a. 150 additional ungraded rooms should be provided. 

b. Enrollment in these rooms should not exceed the New York and 

New Jersey standard of 15 as a maximum. 

7. At least fifty special rooms should be immediately estab- 
lished for children in need of special instructional conditions, 
such as open-air or open-window rooms, rooms for cardiac, 
crippled, blind, and the like. 

8. Children should be placed in ungraded and special rooms 
on the basis of intelligence tests (group tests checked in doubt- 
ful cases by individual tests) and also after careful medical ex- 
amination. 

9. The question of promotions should be made a matter 
of constant study for every school and for the entire city system. 
More agreement should be reached on the essentials for each 
grade and on the quality of work deserving promotion. 

Measurements of the Achievements of Public School Pupils 

Standard tests were administered to the pupils in the public 
schools of Baltimore, in an effort to discover what degree of 
progress is being made in various subjects as pupils are pro- 
moted from grade to grade and also to learn by comparison 
whether the results being obtained in the Baltimore schools are 
equal to or better than the results being obtained in other cities. 

Each test was given in all parts of the city, although it was 
not possible to visit any one school with more than one or two 
tests. Each type of school is represented in the results for each 
test, although the results for each school are not reported sepa- 
rately. Pupils in grades four to eight were examined in each 
school. The selection of schools to be visited with each test was 
made without regard to any reported excellences or deficiencies 
of the school, and it is firmly believed that the results herewith 

29 



presented are typical of the general situation in the Baltimore 
public schools. 

Reading 

The Thorndike-McCall Reading Scale measures the capacity 
and power of the pupil in reading and is practically independent 
of the element of speed. 

COMPARATIVE MEDIAN SCORES IN THE THORNDIKE-McCALL 

READING SCALE BY GRADES 

School Grade 
Place IV V VI VII VIII 

Average School System 41.8 48.0 53.7 58.3 60.9 

Baltimore, White Pupils 43.8 47.8 53.1 58.1 61.2 

Baltimore, Colored Pupils 38.4 41.7 45.6 47.0 47.9 

The table makes it quite clear that the white pupils of Bal- 
timore can read and understand what they read as well as aver- 
age pupils elsewhere in the same school grade. 

The speed at which pupils solve problems in the four funda- 
mental processes of arithmetic was measured by the Courtis 
Tests, Series B. 

COMPARATIVE MEDIAN SCORES IN COURTIS TESTS 
SERIES B— ARITHMETIC 

School Grade 

Place IV V VI VII VIII 

Addition: Average System 4.7 6.0 7.2 8.2 8.8 

Baltimore, White Pupils 4.2 5.5 6.2 7.0 8.3 

Baltimore, Colored Pupils 1.3 1.7 2.3 3.4 4.1 

Subtraction: Average System 5.9 7.5 8.8 10.0 11.2 

Baltimore, White Pupils 5.8 8.3 9.9 10.5 11.7 

Baltimore, Colored Pupils 1.1 1.5 3.0 4.9 6.5 

Multiplication: Average System. . 4.2 5.6 7.1 8.2 9.3 

Baltimore, White Pupils 4.2 5.7 6.8 7.3 8.1 

Baltimore, Colored Pupils 9 1.2 1.9 2.6 3.1 

Division: Average System 2.6 4.7 7.1 8.6 9.7 

Baltimore, White Pupils 2.6 5.1 6.7 7.6 8.7 

Baltimore, Colored Pupils 6 .8 1.4 2.4 3.2 

In a few grades, the pupils of Baltimore do not solve formal 
problems in arithmetic as rapidly as pupils in the average school 
system heretofore tested. 

30 



English Composition 

Approximately ten thousand pupils were asked to spend 
twenty minutes writing- a story on the subject, "The Most Ex- 
citing Experience of My Life." These compositions were then 
rated for quality by trained readers using a standard scale. 

COMPARATIVE MEDIAN SCORES BY GRADES ON HILLEGAS 
ENGLISH COMPOSITION SCALE 

School Grade 

Place IV V VI VII VIII 

Baltimore, White Pupils 2.59 3.34 3.91 4.77 5.43 

St. Paul, Minn 2.02 3.38 3.54 4.12 4.96 

Nassau County, N. Y 2.76 3.42 3.82 4.18 4.56 

Butte, Montana 2.34 2.80 3.41 3.77 4.11 

Baltimore, Colored Pupils 2.22 2.85 2.54 4.02 

Comparisons with other cities show that Baltimore white 
pupils are, grade for grade, as high or higher than pupils else- 
where in their achievements in English composition. In the 
higher grades the superiority of the Baltimore results to those in 
the ether schools is really remarkable. Such a showing might be 
obtained either by better teaching of English composition in Bal- 
timore than is furnished elsewhere or by eliminating from school 
some of those who write poor compositions or by holding 
pupils in the lower grades until they are able to make a high 
showing. If the instruction is really better in Baltimore than 
elsewhere, then Baltimore pupils should show the same superior- 
ity when compared age for age with pupils elsewhere. The facts 
are as follows : 

COMPARATIVE MEDIAN SCORES BY AGES ON HILLEGAS 
ENGLISH COMPOSITION SCALE 



Place 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 



2.75 


3.05 


3.45 


3.64 


4.01 


4.30 


4.18 


5.19 


2.04 


2.83 


3.50 


3.75 


4.50 


5.02 


5.54 


5.96 


2.91 


3.1.0 


3.40 


3.70 


3.97 


4.42 






2.26 


2.53 


2.06 


2.77 


2.92 


2.95 


2.37 





Baltimore, White Pupils. . 2.50 

St. Paul, Minn 

Nassau County, N. Y 

Baltimore, Colored Pupils 

The fact that this table does not show the same superiority 
of Baltimore compositions over those written elsewhere suggests 
that there is probably a tendency in Baltimore to allow only the 

31 



more capable students in English to get into the upper grades 
of the elementary schools. 

Handwriting 

The quality of the handwriting done by the Baltimore pupils 
in their English composition test was compared with the quality 
found in the same grades of other school systems. Baltimore's 
scores are very favorable. 

Spelling 

A list of tweny-five words selected from the Buckingham 
Extension of the Ayres Spelling Scale was used to measure the 
abilities of Baltimore pupils in spelling. The results of this test 
in the different grades at Baltimore are as follows : 

COMPARATIVE SCORES BY GRADES ON AYRES SPELLING 

SCALE 

School Grade 

Place IV V VI VII VIII 

Average School System 10.5 12.5 14.5 16.4 18.3 

Baltimore. White Pupils 9.7 12.6 15.2 17.1 18.5 

Baltimore, Colored Pupils 7.2 10.6 11.3 13.2 16.7 

Although the median spelling scores of the white pupils at 
various grades in Baltimore are equal to the medians of the same 
grades elsewhere, the older pupils in each grade spell less 
well than the younger pupils. This may be illustrated by the me- 
dian scores of pupils of various ages in the sixth grade : 

Age 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 

Score 16.1 15.8 15.2 14.5 14.3 13.9 11.5 

Similar results, found in reading, in composition, and in the 
intelligence tests, would seem to indicate that pupils in Balti- 
more are not being promoted on any very objective evidence of 
fitness, for the younger children are in classes below their abil- 
ities and the older children have been promoted to classes beyond 
their capacities. 

Intelligence Tests 

Scale A of the National Intelligence Tests was used to fur- 
nish some index of the general intellectual abilities of the pupils 
in various grades and of various ages at Baltimore. The results 
by grades are given in the following table : 

32 



9 


10 


11 


12 


13 


14 


15 


16 


69 


S3 


91 


102 


111 


112 


118 


123 


73 


82 


98 


113 


119 


132 


122 


130 


56 


71 


87 


95 


107 


118 


114 


113 


55 


53 


71 


73 


74 


78 


103 





COMPARATIVE MEDIAN SCORES BY GRADES ON 
NATIONAL SCALE A 

School Grade 
Place IV V VI VII VIII 

Baltimore, White Pupils 67 84 105 123 139 

Washington, D. C 63 87 104 118 138 

Michigan Cities 59 82 99 113 130 

Baltimore, Colored Pupils 44 61 84 106 110 

From the above table it is quite clear that Baltimore pupils 
are just as intelligent as pupils in the same grades elsewhere. 
The following table gives the comparisons by ages rather than 
by grades : 

COMPARATIVE MEDIAN SCORES BY AGES ON 
NATIONAL SCALE A 

Ages 
Place 8 

Baltmore, White Pupils.. 65 

Washington, D. C 65 

Michigan Cities 41 

Baltimore, Colored Pupils . . 

It appears that although seventh and eighth grade pupils in 
Baltimore make higher intelligence scores than pupils of the 
same grades elsewhere, the 12, 13 and 14 year old pupils in 
Baltimore are not more able in these tests than pupils in other 
cities. Pupils in Baltimore are apparently not promoted into the 
upper grades unless there is a strong probability that they will 
make a high showing. The unusually high standing of Baltimore 
pupils in the upper grades is not so much because the pupils are 
better taught but because they are more effectively retarded by 
the schools. 

Baltimore teachers must think of the school more definitely 
as a place for instructing pupils and improving their abilities and 
to consider the school no longer as a place for holding pupils 
until their abilities reach certain arbitrary standards. It would 
take much less effort to bring a class "up to grade" in a given 
test, if it had been found, for example, that the sixth grade was 
below standard in spelling, than it will take to make the teachers 
feel strongly the need of giving each pupil a type of work which 
he can accomplish with profit. Teachers tend quite naturally 
to feel that those pupils who do the work offered in school are 
"superior" to those who do not succeed in school, and it will 

33 



take a considerable amount of patient supervision to bring them 
to "lower their standards" and to think of other interests as 
being just as "noble" and "worthy" as the academic life. 

Many more special classes and special schools must be pro- 
vided for those pupils whose abilities and interests are "differ- 
ent." Pupils should be considered as individuals. Those who 
have the same interests and abilities should recite and work to- 
gether for economic administrative reasons, but each pupil 
should be placed in a class where the work is such as will make 
him a more efficient and a happier member of the community. 
The provision of an adequate number of such special classes and 
schools will do much in the creation of a right attitude among 
the teachers toward the pupils whose interests are "different." 

MEDICAL INSPECTION, INSTRUCTION IN HYGIENE, AND 
PHYSICAL EDUCATION 

A. Medical Inspection 

1. The medical inspection of Baltimore children is con- 
ducted by the Board of Health through the services of 
34 part-time physicians and 39 whole-time nurses. 

2. The physicians are Health Wardens whose duties, in ad- 
dition to the school work, consist in routine ward super- 
vision of communicable disease. 

3. The assignment to schools is on the basis of their ward 
work. This makes for uneven, poorly distributed allot- 
ment. Thus Health Warden A inspects 250 children 
(the lowest) and Health Warden B inspects 1600 chil- 
dren plus the children in St. Elizabeth's (the highest 
number). 

4. The first and fourth grades only are examined in routine. 
Others, referred by teacher or nurse, are examined also. 

5. There is no medical supervision of athletic teams in the 
elementary or high schools. 

6. The examination card provides one-third of its items 
for minor and parasitic conditions. There is only one 
item on the card which should require the services of a 
physician. This is tonsils. Item T. B. also on the card 
will require medical attention, but the Health Warden 
does not examine for T. B. on routine. 

34 



The school nurse is the most valuable part of the present 
organization for medical inspection in the Baltimore 
schools. 

The records of the Department of Health are incomplete, 
unstandardized, and in need of immediate attention. The 
eight years previous to 1921, show records for 1912, 1913 
and part of 1914. Years 1915, 1916, 1917, 1918, 1919 are 
without satisfactory statistical data. The 1920 report is 
not yet available. 

For the years 1912, 1913, 1914 there is unmistakable evi- 
dence of lack of standardization. Thus in 1913 Medical 
Inspector A in examining 8,068 children diagnosed 122 
mentally deficient. All the other medical inspectors (five 
in all at that time) examined 32,131 children and found 
only 83 cases. 

Again, Medical Inspector I-J with 108 cases of pedicu- 
losis and 827 cases of tonsils records 168 cases of adenitis. 
Medical Inspector C-D with 1,192 cases of pediculosis 
and 1,505 cases of tonsils records only 7 cases of adenitis. 



Recommendations 

1. The Board of Education should be responsible for the 
medical supervision of the public school children. 

In the development of medical inspection service in the 
schools, authority was granted at first to Boards of 
Health. By 1911 over three-fourths of the cities sup- 
porting medical inspection show authority vested in the 
Board of Education. 

2. There should be standards set for the examination, for 
diagnoses, referring of cases, etc. This should be accom- 
plished by a standardization clinic held by the depart- 
ment at the beginning of the school year. 

3. General inspection of all children in one week according 
to plans and forms provided. 

4. Use of symptom chart by teachers for referring cases. 

35 



5. Medical examination of all elementary and junior high 
children. Physician to deal with certain selected items. 
Special examination for all students who are candidates 
for athletic teams, referred by the teachers, failing in 
their work, or frequently absent on account of illness,, 

6. Central clinic where parents may bring children for 
special examinations, consultations, special tests (psy- 
chological, chemical) and treatment of special kind, such 
as for speech defects, orthopedic deformity, etc. 

Continuance of all the present available avenues of 
treatment such as family physician, clinics and hospitals, 
school nurse and home treatments. 

7. Adoption so far as possible of the Cincinnati plan for 
dental clinics. 



B. Instruction in Hygiene 

1. The training in personal hygiene at the Training School 
provides too much emphasis on anatomy and physiology 
and not enough on hygiene ; the instruction in school 
hygiene deals too largely with conditions that lie outside 
the province of the teacher to change, and neglects such 
important items as to make posture tests, to actually 
make vision tests, to actually make hearing tests, to ex- 
amine teeth and be able to recognize defects, to know 
the signs and early symptoms of the common defects and 
diseases of children. 

2. The hygiene instruction in the elementary schools is an 
incidental matter and is treated as such. There is no 
supervision of the work, and very little interest. An oc- 
casional school shows a wide awake modern-minded 
teacher, developing the hygiene in relation to habits and 
the problems of boys and girls ; in most instances it is 
a matter of teaching physiology. The great illusion in 
education is well illustrated by the observation of a les- 
son in a sixth grade. The teacher was emphasizing the 
importance of oxygen, but the school program made no 
provision for outdoor play ; the windows were closed and 
the temperature in the room was 78 degrees Fahrenheit. 

36 



3. In the junior high schools, the hygiene instruction shows 
more uniformity and! ( has more illustrations of good 
work- 

4. Hygiene instruction in the senior high schools is taken 
up in a regular way. In Eastern, it is taught in connec- 
tion with biology, but as biology is an elective subject, 
not all students receive instruction in hygiene. Less 
is done at Western. There is no instruction in the sub- 
ject at Polytechnic or Baltimore City College. At the 
colored high school, hygiene is featured in the general 
elementary biology course. 

Recommendations 

1. Supervision of the subject in the elementary grades. In- 
crease in correlation. 

2. Change of text in use in the sixth grade. Recitation 
needs to be vitalized by bringing in outside sources of 
information. Not a memory subject at all. 

3. More use to be made of posters. 

4. School nurse to be brought into the teaching. 

5. Increase in the activities and work of the Health Cru- 
sade. 

6. Special teacher in hygiene in the junior and senior high 
schools. 

7. In the high schools, hygiene should be offered as a sep- 
arate course, in segregated classes by an instructor of 
the same sex as the class. 

C. Physical Education 

1. The physical education in the elementary schools con- 
sists of 10-minute lessons in formal calisthenic exercises, 
with emphasis on discipline, response to command, and 
without any reasonable allowance for play and games. 

2. In this regard Baltimore is not abreast of the times. 
The tendency in physical education today is to provide 
more play. The first two grades in different syllabi indi- 
cate this tendency. 

37 



No. of Pages 

Given to No. of Pages % Emphasis % Emphasis 

Syllabus Formal Given to on formal on P^ay and 

Gymnastics Play Gymnastics Games 

Michigan 50 100 

California 190 100 

New Jersey 2 37 5 S5 

Philadelphia 5 20 20 80 

Baltimore 28 8 78 22 

3. The time devoted to work that would produce physiol- 
ogic results in the children is insufficient. Too much em- 
phasis is given to postural, disciplinary types of exer- 
cises. In 175 lessons observed only 5.8 per cent, of the 
1750 minutes observed was given to physiological work; 
at least 75 per cent, should have been provided. 

4. Physical training in the Baltimore schools is not de- 
veloping an interest in physical activity. The love for 
physical exercise, the participation in physical exercise, 
is considered today as one of the essentials for health. 
In Baltimore the children's natural instinctive impulses 
to play are being repressed by a system of training that 
is artificial, unhygienic, and totally unwarranted from 
any standpoint. 

5. The supervision is provided by 13 assistant supervisors 
who are improperly and incompletely trained and who 
lack effective methods of supervision. Not one member 
of the staff is a college graduate holding a college degree. 

6. The work at the training school is of a very poor order. 
There are no locker or dressing room facilities worth 
consideration, except to be condemned. 

7. The Baltimore Syllabus is of very poor quality. Essen- 
tially the same lesson is taught to all eight grades. A 
class of mental defectives was observed in the same les- 
son given to normal children. The defectives go through 
the work with as much skill as the normal classes. 

8. The work is absolutely lacking in standards. The use of 
physical efficiency tests has not been utilized, although 
a physical efficiency contest has been started this past 
year. About .4 of 1 per cent, of the children were in- 
terested enough to compete in the contest. 

9. The work in the junior and senior high schools is per- 
vaded by the same spirit and reflects the same goals as 

38 



given in the syllabus for the elementary schools. For- 
mal exercises, no provision for medical supervision, no 
bathing, inadequate opportunity for play, for outdoor 
activities — these conditions persist with all the coloring 
of Jahn's German Gymnastics and Ling's Swedish 
Gymnastics. 
10. Polytechnic Institute provides no physical training at all. 
Athletic teams coached by teachers of academic or pro- 
fessional subjects compete with teams from City Col- 
lege, coached in similar fashion. No "Athletics for all" 
program or policy. 

Recommendations 

1. That a director and an adequate staff for medical super- 
vision, instruction in hygiene, and physical education be 
provided. 

(a) Elementary school — Twenty minutes daily in phy- 
sical education of a modern kind — organized re- 
cess daily — sixty minutes play and recreation after 
school, voluntary at present, to be required as 
facilities warrant. 

(b) Junior high school — Three 45 minute periods a 
week in physical education of a modern kind — two 
60-minute periods a week on alternate days with 
above for after-school games and athletics, volun- 
tary at present, to be extended as facilities war- 
rant. 

(c) Senior High School — Two 45-minute periods a 
week in physical education of a modern kind — 
three 60-minute periods a week on alternate days 
with above, in games, hikes and athletics, volun- 
tary at present, to be extended as facilities war- 
rant. 

4. Cooperation with Public Athletic League and Children's 
Playground Association and Maryland Scholastic Ath- 
letic Association. 

SECONDARY SCHOOLS 

1. There are in Baltimore five high schools and nine "pre- 
paratory" and junior high schools, but no secondary school sys- 

39 



tern. The high schools have developed largely as individual in- 
stitutions, their policies determined chiefly by the respective 
principals. The "preparatory" schools instituted by one superin- 
tendent with a definite idea, have been continued by another 
without adquate provision or promotion. The junior high schools 
were begun by official mandate, without preparation of teachers, 
principals, or plant, and have developed as well as could be ex- 
pected without a coordinating policy and active supervision from 
the superintendent's office. 

Recommended — That a comprehensive secondary school sys- 
tem be devised by the superintendents, the principals, and heads 
of departments, representing the entire teaching corps. 

2. The boys' high schools are designed to satisfy the needs 
of only a small fraction of the youth of Baltimore. The Poly- 
technic Institute prepares boys for engineering and higher 
schools ;' the City College prepares for academic colleges and 
commercial work. The girls' schools are more liberal in their of- 
ferings, but still fall short of being fully comprehensive. The 
Colored High School imperfectly exemplifies its program, which 
is too academic for its clientele. As a result, Baltimore ranks 
next to the last among the 41 largest cities in the proportion of 
its population in high schools, and 38 in the ratio of high school 
pupils to the total school enrollment. 

Recommended — That provision be made in the secondary 
school system in junior and senior high schools for all normal 
boys and girls from 12 to 18 years of age. 

3. The fact that the schools are not now adapted to the 
pupils who enter is manifest from the data on failure, retarda- 
tion, and elimination. 

Of 442 pupils who entered Baltimore Polytechnic Institute 
in 1914, 57 per cent, completed the first semester's work on time ; 
71 per cent, finally completed it. Something less than a fourth 
ultimately graduated, and of these about one-half proceeded to 
engineering colleges where they received advanced standing of 
one year or more. Two years after entrance, only 29 per cent, of 
the class were in regular standing; 12 per cent. were retarded one 
semester; 7 per cent., one year; 4 per cent., a year and a half; 
and 1 per cent., two years. The other 47 per cent, had dropped 

40 



out. At City College 36 per cent, of the entering class has been 
eliminated at the end of two years. 

Any institution that fails, retards, and throws away so large 
a proportion of its raw material, cannot be considered success- 
ful in its efforts to turn out a finished product of value to the 
city. 

Recommended — That the work of the several high schools 
be adapted to the needs of all normal and industrious adolescents, 
whatever their preparation, capacities, or aptitudes. 

4. The purposes of the high schools, as presented in the an- 
nual Register and as stated by the principals, are lacking in har- 
mony and, for the boys at least, are not reflective of a considera- 
tion of the needs of the youth of Baltimore. Some of the state- 
ments have stood for years with but slight verbal changes. 

Recommended — That after a cooperative study of the needs 
of the adolescents of Baltimore by the teachers and officials in 
charge, there be made a new set of statements of purpose, so 
formulated as to be effective in the devising of curricula and 
courses of study, in adapting instruction, and in enlarging the 
scope of education to include the extra-curricular activities of 
boys and girls. 

5. Just before the close of schools eighth grade pupils are 
summoned to the high schools, where they are told of the offer- 
ings, given printed programs of study, and requested to advise 
with their parents as to which curriculum they will elect if they 
enter the high schools in the fall. 

Recommended — That a systematic and general effort be 
made, not merely in May but from time to time during the year, 
to interest grammar grade children in higher education, to con- 
vince them of its attractiveness and worth, to induce in them a 
desire to enter high school, and to guide them toward work that 
promises the highest return in value for the individual and to 
the city. 

6. The junior high schools are too young as yet to be fully 
evaluated. Good features were found in all of them, but no ade- 
quate conception of their purposes or possibilities is general 
among the principals, teachers, and parents. Being imposed 

41 



without preparation, these schools seem to have done as well 
as could be expected. 

Recommended — That institutes of principals and teachers 
be convened to determine the purposes, policies, and programs of 
junior high schools; that each one be adapted to the neighbor- 
hood in which it is situated ; and that each school, when pro- 
vided with able and skilled teachers, undertake to develop the 
details of some one course of study or activity, these later to be 
tried by teachers in the other schools. 

7. No facts have been more convincingly shown by the 
science of education than that pupils vary amazingly in their in- 
terests, aptitudes, and abilities, that these variations are con- 
tinuous from low to high, that by no means can pupils all be made 
alike, and that in consequence suitable provisions should be made 
for different groups. 

Recommended — That provisions be made in all the high 
schools for individual differences in pupils : for interests and 
aptitudes by curricula and courses ; for abilities, by slow moving 
and accelerant groups. 

8. The curricula of the several high schools are in the larg- 
est measure influenced by traditions. That in this matter Bal- 
timore schools are no worse than hundreds of others is no ex- 
cuse for the continuance of required subject-matter that causes 
a seventh of the pupils to fail, that eliminates in one school 
three-fourths of all entrants, and that even when mastered does 
not make a profitable return to the city on its investment. 

Recommended— That the principals and heads of depart- 
ments, representing the entire body of teachers, on such modifi- 
cation as they desire to make of the curriculum principles pre- 
sented, construct new curricula for a secondary school system 
in Baltimore, and that teachers of the several subject groups 
then cooperatively develop for the approval of the entire corps 
new courses of study consonant with accepted principles. 

9. Observations were made of full periods of teaching by 
103 teachers in the five high schools, and records kept of a num- 
ber of details of instruction. As is the case in every large city, 
there is in Baltimore some excellent, much conventional or com- 
monplace, and some very poor teaching. In personality the high 

42 



school teachers of Baltimore impress the field workers as rank- 
ing high. In loyalty to their work they are typical, most of 
them rendering to the tasks which they undertake a devotion 
that would be more admired were it not so common among 
school teachers. The esprit de corps has fallen somewhat dur- 
ing the past two years because of the unsatisfactory salary 
schedule and of professional uncertainty. 

There is great variation in the size of pupil-hour loads 
among teachers, even among those working in the same depart- 
ment, and, with and without apparent reason, there is consider- 
able variation among subjects. Freshmen are usually in classes 
considerably larger than those to which the seniors are assigned. 
To the last statement Baltimore Polytechnic Institute is a con- 
spicuous exception. The sizes of the classes are in the great ma- 
jority of cases above, often much above, the standards set by 
such bodies as the North Central Association of Colleges and 
Secondary Schools ; and the average pupil-hour load is too heavy 
for teachers to give the personal attention that pupils need and 
deserve. 

Recommended — That young teachers who do not give 

marked promise of growth be promptly removed; that the 
school authorities, including the Board of School Commissioners, 
give careful attention to the conserving and improving of the 
esprit de corps among the teachers ; that the size of high school 
classes be reduced to an average of approximately twenty-five, 
with no class larger than 30 pupils, and the most immature pupils 
being assigned to the smaller sections ; that the pupil-hour load 
of no teacher be permitted to exceed 800 each week, an average 
of 750 being sought ; that unfit teachers who for good reasons 
cannot be removed be given assignments in the school system 
where they can contribute most and do the least harm ; and that 
better provisions be made for directing growth in service. 

10. Recommended — That principals be freed from all pos- 
sible mechanical routine and expected to spend the major part 
of their time in attempting to improve the educational worth 
of the school. If a principal is especially interested in problems 
of administration, he should be supplemented by a full-time as- 
sistant principal who devotes himself to problems of education. 

43 



11. There are in the five high schools thirty heads of de- 
partments, but they have never been assigned definite authority 
and work nor have they devised for themselves a common pro- 
gram. They have widely varying conceptions of their functions. 
In the Baltimore City College there are several heads who ap- 
parently do nothing in return for the concomitant extra salary. 
The other heads of departments contribute variously according 
to their conceptions of their positions, always limited by the 
necessity of spending four or more periods a day in other duties. 
More than a third of the heads in three schools and practically 
all in the other two were found to be doing practically nothing 
toward the improvement of their departments. 

Recommended — That heads of departments be assigned defi- 
nite powers and responsibility for improving teachers in ser- 
vice, and that for this end they receive necessary relief from 
other duties. 

12. In the boys' high schools and in the school for colored 
pupils practically nothing has been done to use extra-curricular 
activities for enriching education. In the girls' schools a begin- 
ning has been made. 

Recommended — That provisions be made whereby extra- 
curricular activities of the schools — clubs, assemblies, publica- 
tions, and the like — be seriously used as a part of the educational 
program, with teachers assigned to them as a part of their reg- 
ular duties. 

13. There has been a negligible amount of leadership for 
the secondary schools from the superintendent's office, and no 
definite policy. 

Recommended — That the assistant superintendent in charge 
of secondary schools be relieved of all possible routine duties and 
assigned the responsibility of working out such a program as 
previously suggested, of stimulating and directing his subordi- 
nates toward the reorganization of subject matter and the im- 
provement of teaching. 



44 



THE CURRICULUM OF THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS OF 

BALTIMORE 

1. As represented by documentary evidence. There is no 
complete, organized, published curriculum. Fragmentary courses 
of study and outlines were found as follows : 

a. Courses published in 1908 in geography, history, nature 
study, and sewing. 

b. Revisions of earlier courses, or new courses, published 
more recently in arithmetic, English, drawing, manual 
training, physical training, and hygiene and physiology. 

c. Printed synopses or summaries of earlier courses now 
out of print to serve temporarily in geography, history, 
and arithmetic. 

d. "Units" from the two Training Schools, in type-written 
form, issued through the last five years, supplementing 
the earlier printed courses of study. 

e. The Baltimore County Course of Study, still used quite 
fully in the recently annexed schools, and used as a 
reference by a very few of the city teachers. 

f. Text books or sets of manuals. The Hollis Dann Music 
Series represents the course in music, and the Norman 
Penmanship Series that of writing. 

g. A pamphlet Report of Committees appointed by the 
Teachers' Association recommending certain changes 
in the curriculum. The changes recommended seem 
not to have been authorized by the Board of Education. 

Difficulty was experienced in securing a full set of these 
documents, and a condition more chaotic could not well be 
imagined. 

2. As found in operation. Visits, and detailed inquiries and 
observations were made in 52 schools, carefully selected to rep- 
resent typically different environing conditions over the entire 
city. These included one-room and other schools in the "An- 
nex," suburban schools, and schools in the most thickly popu- 
lated districts in the city. Both schools for white children and 
for colored children were included. 

Relative to this particular problem, there is not sufficient 
difference between the schools for white and colored children to 

45 



make it necessary to differentiate in findings and recommenda- 
tions. 

In some schools, teachers are left quite free to make their 
own selections of material and their programs, while in others 
the principal dictates the rigorous enforcement of his own in- 
terpretation of the curriculum. In some schools there is fine co- 
operation and democracy. 

While there is much variability in practice, yet fundament- 
ally there is a degree of uniformity making transfers of pupils 
relatively easy. This indicates that the curriculum as actually 
operative is largely in the minds of the principals and teachers, 
centering about the standards established by training and tradi- 
tion. 

The General Conditions 

While all degrees of quality from high excellence to relative 
poverty are found in the selection and organization of material, 
central tendencies as found are as follows : 

1. Points of emphasis and subordination. There is marked 
over-emphasis upon the processes of arithmetic, spelling, the 
technical phases of drawing, manual training, sewing, and phy- 
sical education as compared with the thought phases of these 
subjects and with the other subjects of study. The median time 
given to arithmetic is from 150 minutes a week in the first grade 
to 285 in the sixth. For mathematics, the median time is 330 
minutes a week in the eighth grade. In one school, 600 minutes 
a week are given to mathematics in the seventh and eighth 
grades. In spelling, the median time allotment is 60 minutes a 
week in the first grade, 100 in the fourth, and 60 in the sixth. 
But there are some schools giving 30 minutes a day to spelling 
in the sixth grade, and, in one second grade, pupils were given 
eight new words a day for four days a week with one day for 
review. While these cases are extreme, there are many schools 
in which the emphasis upon mechanical processes is very great. 

On the other hand, the content subjects, geography, history, 
literature, science, and the thought aspects of arithmetic and the 
practical arts as these relate to usage and interpretation, are re- 
latively subordinated. As compared with the time allotments 
in 50 cities, quoted by Strayer and Engelhardt in "The Class- 
room Teacher" (page 215), Baltimore gives about 31 per cent. 

46 



more time to arithmetic than the median allotment for these 
50 cities, and about 61 per cent, less to history and geography 
combined, basing the comparisons upon approximate values for 
Baltimore. 

Throughout the curriculum as found working, the tool sub- 
jects are strongly emphasized, while the subjects representing 
thought content and activities related to the practical, work-a- 
day world are relatively neglected. 

2. Facilities and equipment. While there is great variabil- 
ity in the amount and kind of teaching equipment and materials, 
the schools generally are not well supplied. Many schools are 
entirely without practical arts materials at the present time. 

3. Uses of environment. Although Baltimore is rich in in- 
dustrial, geographical, institutional, historic, and art activities, 
materials, and conditions, most schools make very little use of 
these. An exceptional school or teacher here and there illus- 
trates possibilities by efficient use of these elements of environ- 
ment, but most schools and teachers make very little use of 
them. 

Consideration of the Respective School Subjects 

An analysis has been made of the status of each of the school 
subjects on the basis of both the documentary statements of 
courses and as revealed by direct evidence in the school. Specific 
evaluations and detailed suggestions for improvement have been 
made for each study. A brief of these detailed findings and con- 
structive suggestions is not possible within the limits of this ab- 
stract. The complete report affords a basis for a program of 
curriculum revision. 

Recommendations 

1. To meet immediate needs. It is recommended that a rep- 
resentative committee of teachers, principals, supervisors, and 
selected members of the training school facilities be immediately 
chosen to codify and organize the material now constituting the 
best elements in the courses of study, making such additions as 
are necessary, into a temporary curriculum to serve during the 
interval necessary for making a more fundamental revision. 
This committee should bring together the fragmentary docu- 
mentary material now serving as a basis of work, modify it to 
include the best present practices in the schools of Baltimore not 

47 



included in the printed courses, make such desirable modifica- 
tions in the whole as can be done in a short time without em- 
barrassing the present teachers in the schools, and unify this 
into one outlined curriculum. Work should be so organized 
and planned that the results may be completed and made avail- 
able for use at the opening of the schools in September, 1921. 
Sufficient flexibility in the work should be provided to permit 
readily of the adaptation of the material to the needs of the vari- 
ous schools of the city in terms of their varying conditions as 
to size, population, and environment. It must be remembered 
that the range of conditions in Baltimore is very wide, including 
one-teacher schools, suburban graded schools, and schools in dis- 
tricts highly congested and representing many types of popula- 
tion, both native and foreign born. 

As it requires from one to three years to develop the more 
satisfactory revision of the curriculum, it will probably be desir- 
able to print this temporary curriculum in a quantity sufficient to 
supply every Baltimore teacher with a copy for at least two 
years. 

2. To make a more fundamental revision. It is recom- 
mended that a representative committee with an appropriate 
number of sub-committees be appointed to make a thorough- 
going study and revision of the curriculum, and to prepare the 
results of its findings for adoption and publication by the Board 
of Education. While such committees will necessarily have to be 
representative, and should represent every school group in Bal- 
timore, the interest of every teacher in the school system should 
be enlisted in the enterprise. Every teacher should be encour- 
aged to study the problem and to contribute a share in its solu- 
tion. It is the teachers who have to apply the curriculum, and 
the larger their share in its development, the larger their feeling 
that it is their own work, the more efficiently will they carry 
forward its provisions in practice. 

As the new curriculum develops, its content should gradually 
take the place of the temporary curriculum. Any marked modi- 
fications in content and time allotment should be tested out be- 
fore they are recommended for general adoption. Even in units 
of work proving most satisfactory, a certain degree of flexi- 
bility should be provided. While the larger body of content ill 
the elementary school will remain permanent, no curriculum 

48 



should be made so rigid that it will not permit of adaptation 
and improvement as occasion makes this possible. As we live 
in a progressive world, the curriculum should reflect those 
changes which are progressive. 

Although the curriculum developed should be a curriculum 
for the whole city of Baltimore, it should be fluid enough and 
flexible enough to make its adaptation and adjustment to the 
needs of any individual school in Baltimore easy and efficient. 

In this revision, the suggestions made relative to the in- 
dividual school subjects in the more complete report should be 
considered. The problems of special classes, of equipment and 
supplies, of mental tests, of measures of achievement, of the 
use of the environment, of grade norms and promotion, and of 
supervisory needs should all receive consideration as they relate 
to the problem of the curriculum. 

By adopting these two phases of policy in revising the cur- 
riculum, it is believed that both immediate improvement and a 
progressive plan of permanent improvement may be achieved 
without embarrassment of teachers or loss in their efficiency. The 
recommendations are based upon the belief that growth must 
be deliberate, that it must be experinced by every member of the 
teaching and supervisory staff, and that it must begin with con- 
ditions as they are. 



KINDERGARTENS 

Importance of the Kindergarten as a Unit in a Public School 

System 

Some of the main objectives in kindergarten education are 
the development of right personal habits, learning to work and 
play together, training in habits of self-reliance, initiative, and 
good thinking. The kindergarten aims to give the children a 
wealth of valuable first-hand experiences which shall furnish the 
mind with ideas and concepts upon which may be based the edu- 
cation in symbols which begins in primary school. Good habits 
of work are built up through various concrete activities. The 
kindergarten represents not only a highly impressionable, but an 
equally productive period in the child's life. 

49 



Development and Present Status in Baltimore 

In Baltimore in 1911 there were 21 kindergartens. In 1921 
there are only 36 and 6 of these were opened as recently as May, 
1920. This shows a very slow increase during the last decade. 
At present there are 87 schools having first grades which are 
without kindergartens, and in the schools having kindergartens 
there is great disparity in the numbers enrolled in these classes 
as compared with the enrollment in first grades. There is a total 
enrollment in the kindergartens of 1954 pupils and in the first 
grades 5941. This is in the ratio of less than 1 to 3. Children 
are admitted to the kindergarten at the age of 5 years. There 
are probably about as many 5-year-old children as 6-year-olds at 
any given time in any given neighborhood. Yet this disparity 
in numbers enrolled is typical, as shown in four different schools. 

Enrolled in Kindergarten 51 43 44 48 

Enrolled in first grade 266 210 254 293 

It cannot be said that there is any strong demand on the 
part of the general public for more kindergartens or that long 
waiting lists are common. This passive or indifferent attitude 
on the part of the public is not found in other cities where kin- 
dergartens have been long established and it is probably due 
partly to a general lack of understanding and partly to the poor 
and unattractive school surroundings and facilities almost uni- 
versally found. 

Educational Materials 

In the kindergarten curriculum materials of various kinds 
occupy an important place. Pupils have not reached a stage 
where books can be of great value. Their training must come 
from first-hand experience from experimentation with construc- 
tional and art material, and their thinking must be largely in the 
concrete situations which arise in their attempts to carry out 
their plans and schemes of work and play. 

There have been vast changes in the last fifteen years in 
the nature of materials deemed desirable for the education of 
young children, and the equipment of Baltimore kindergartens 
only faintly suggests the sweeping changes which are now al- 
most universal elsewhere. The limited closet space is crowded 
with antiquated material which is useless, while there is almost 
a complete lack of the newer materials, such as large floor blocks 

50 



and physical apparatus. Even such absolutely essential materials 
as clay, sand, scissors, crayons, paints and brushes are either en- 
tirely lacking or supplied in quite inadequate amount. In many 
cases teachers are themselves furnishing - some of the indispen- 
sable materials and tools rather than suffer the handicap of their 
lack. 

It is recommended that there be an entire revision of the 
order list worked out by the co-operation of the supervisor and 
teachers. The useless material should be disposed of and a better 
type supplied in sufficient quantity to render possible efficient 
work. 

Curriculum 

There is no prescribed outline or course of study. The 
work is planned by the directors and varies in value according 
to the training and viewpoint of the individual. The usual cur- 
riculum subjects, industrial arts, fine arts, construction, litera- 
ture, oral language, dramatic play, games, music and nature 
study, are found in all programs with varying emphasis. It is 
in the planning and presenting of a modern course of study that 
the greatest help from the supervisor is needed. Standards should 
be defined without imposing uniformity of curriculum. 

Methods of Instruction 

The most common procedure is to conduct various activities 
in large groups under the direct control of the teacher, but nu- 
merous instances were noted where teachers were attempting 
to work with smaller groups and definitely training the children 
in valuable habits of self-direction and initiative. This is in line 
with progressive work elsewhere, but most of the teachers are 
in need of further expert guidance and help in order to become 
proficient in using this method. 

Relation of Kindergarten to First Grade 

Statements of supervisor and teachers, examination of cur- 
riculum, and observation, all show that the work of the first 
grade is not built definitely upon that of the kindergarten. Many 
first grade teachers find points to commend in the kindergarten- 
trained child, but their opinion on the whole is not favorable. 
This attitude is almost always found where primary work, as 
in Baltimore, is extremely formal, where activities similar to 

51 



those in the kindergarten are entirely absent in first grade, and 
where the primary classes are very large. Enrollment in first 
grade classes often reaches 45 to 60 in Baltimore. Under these 
conditions children trained to habits of initiative, independence 
and earnest following of active pursuits will not fit into the for- 
mal scheme. 

This lack of co-ordination can be obviated to great extent 
by enrichment of primary curriculum, providing opportunity for 
greater freedom of the right sort and bringing teachers of both 
departments together for study of common problems. 



HOME ECONOMICS 

Recommendations 

1. That a well trained supervisor of all the home economics 
studies be appointed as soon as possible. 

2. Recommended that equipment, space, and materials be 
improved in order that teachers may do better work. 

3. That the teaching objective be defined and work so or- 
ganized as to be of social value to the group receiving instruc- 
tion. 

4. (a) In elementary schools. 1. Industrial arts work, in- 
cluding certain phases of the home economics, should form a 
basis for future work. This is not a subject added to the curri- 
culum provided the subjects are correlated. The standards of 
adults should not be imposed upon children, (b) In junior high 
schools. 1. Each teacher cooperating with the supervisor should 
adapt the course of study to the needs of the group and indi- 
viduals as far as possible, (c) In senior high schools. Home 
economics studies should be offered to meet the needs of all the 
girls in high school. These needs are : 

1. For general self -improvement, which may be met 
through the course of the ninth grade and in many of 
the units offered in the senior high school. 

2. For home-making education, which may be secured 
from the full home-making course here recom- 
mended. 

3. For industrial vocational insight and training, which 
may be received in the more intensive and advanced 
courses. 

52 



5. The school lunch should be under the immediate direc- 
tion of an expert dietitian as in other large cities. She should 
cooperate with the home economics supervisor in making the 
lunch hour a real part of the school program, with educational 
features. 

6. A study of the home conditions of the girls will make 
possible the adaptation of the home economics studies to meet 
more adequately their home and vocational needs. 

Mothers as well as girls in school need home-making instruc- 
tion. This must be given through the public schools. For for- 
eign women home teaching is recommended. 

Vocational Education 

The scope of evening, continuation, part-time, and day voca- 
tional schools in the field of industry, commerce, and the home 
is so great and the possibilities of making contacts with business 
men and commercial establishments so numerous that it is essen- 
tial for the success of the field represented that Baltimore should 
provide a director or an Assistant Superintendent of Schools who 
will have charge of vocational activities. 

The Vocational Activities should include an Industrial In- 
stitute ; evening vocational schools; continuation and part-time 
schools, vocational guidance, manual training and household 
arts, as given in the elementary and secondary schools, and voca- 
tional experience in the junior high school. 

Industrial and Trade Education 

A comprehensive plan for industrial and trade education in 
Baltimore should take into consideration the training organiza- 
tions in the large industries and establishments, first, by fitting 
youth through day school instruction for entrance upon advanced 
apprenticeship; second, by cooperative part-time training where 
the public school assumes full responsibility for related work 
and the shop and store full responsibility for practical work; 
third, by establishing advanced technical evening courses in lines 
not touched by the plants themselves. 

A Central Trade Institute should be organized to teach : (a) 
Printing and the related trades ; (b) Mechanical trades (inclu- 
sive of machinists trade and other crafts of metallurgical plants, 

53 



railroad shops and steam engine practice) ; (c) Building- and 
woodworking trades ; (d) Ship building trades ; (e) Automobile 
trades, nautical trades (School ship) ; (f) Trades and occupa- 
tions open to women and girls ; (g) Truck gardening. 

Corresponding provisions should be made for the colored 
race in a colored industrial school where there is instruction in 
carpentry, stone and brick masonry, plastering, painting, paper 
hanging, plumbing, gas and pipe fittings, chauffeuring, tailoring, 
cleaning and renovating, shoe cobbling, and truck gardening. 

Women and girls' courses should be organized in the In- 
stitute in order to give recognition to the large number of fe- 
males employed in the needle trades, hair dressing and the like. 

Part-Time and Continuation Schools 

This report recommends that these schools follow definitely 
the plans of the Smith-Hughes Act and conform to the theory 
and practice as laid down in the national law. 

Commercial Education 

It is recommended that a director of commercial education 
be appointed. No other field of education is in greater need of 
expert guidance. Such a director is needed to coordinate the 
work in the commercial department in the day high schools, 
the evening high schools, and the continuation schools. 



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